As Victorians settle into spring, the state’s health department has issued an alert confirming that cases of influenza and COVID-19 are climbing at a point in the season when they would usually be declining. Cases of respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, remain raised after peaking in July, and hospitals and clinics across the state report a corresponding rise in visits for respiratory illness. Chief Health Officer Dr Caroline McElnay issued the alert on 24 August, describing this year’s pattern as a later than usual increase in activity when set against previous seasons.
The department has named young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems as those facing the greatest risk of severe disease from these infections. Symptoms across flu, COVID-19 and RSV overlap considerably and include fever, cough, sore throat, a runny nose, body aches and fatigue, which makes distinguishing between the three difficult without testing.
What this means for cleaning and facility teams
For facility managers, cleaning contractors and hygiene service providers, the alert reinforces a message that has become familiar territory over recent years, namely that surface hygiene and hand hygiene sit alongside vaccination as frontline defences against seasonal respiratory illness. The department has pointed to regular hand washing or sanitising, covering coughs and sneezes and staying home when unwell as measures that reduce transmission in shared spaces such as offices, schools, aged care facilities and healthcare settings.
Facilities that serve higher risk populations, including early learning centres, aged care homes and hospitals, carry particular weight in this advice. The department has also flagged face masks as appropriate for symptomatic individuals visiting health or care services, a detail that touches on infection control protocols many cleaning and FM operators already build into their winter and spring routines.
Vaccination against flu, COVID-19 and RSV remains available through GPs, pharmacies, local councils and Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Organisations, with some groups eligible for free doses. Clinicians have been urged to check patients are up-to-date and to consider early antiviral treatment for high-risk individuals who become unwell.
The alert serves as a timely reminder for operators across the cleaning and hygiene sector that seasonal respiratory illness has not followed its usual calendar this year, and that consistent hygiene protocols carry real weight in limiting its spread through commercial and care environments.
